


Once Upon a Library

by Axel_Knochenmus



Series: Bindings Between Us [1]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Fluff, Hakuba plays matchmaker, Librarian Shinichi, M/M, Well sort of fluff at least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:51:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2437658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Axel_Knochenmus/pseuds/Axel_Knochenmus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakuba Saguru is the best wingman that a phantom thief with a little too much interest in one of the detectives chasing him than is really good for him could ask for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Saguru

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh, I've had this like, half finished for nearly a year, but life got awful, and my muse got awful. I haven't abandoned my other thing, I swear I'll be working on that, but I'm not going to lie this particular thing will probably get updated more than Aftermath of Murder, if only because writing more light hearted stuff is better for my stress than angst and recovery. Although that's not really saying much, because yeah, life issues.  
> This is mostly ish the same thing from each character's perspective (Saguru, Kaito, and Shinichi), but will expand on backstory and 'verse stuff.

When Aoko had shown up at the end of his classes insisting that he join her and Kaito at the library, grinning mischievously and promising he’d enjoy himself, Hakuba hadn’t expected that what she meant by that is that they would be watching Kaito valiantly trying - and failing - to hit on the on-duty librarian for a good seventeen and a half minutes. Frankly, he was impressed at how effortlessly they managed to disable the magician’s booby-traps without even looking up from his book, oddly familiar with Kaito's brand of tricks. He wasn't sure if he should focus on that, the apparent narcissism in the magician's taste considering how remarkably similar they looked, or the fact that he  _knew_  the librarian. While the last one didn't actually bother him, Saguru couldn't help but marvel at how of all the people his somewhat-friend could have chosen to take a fancy to, he picked Kudou Shinichi.

Not that he personally had any issues with the other detective, but he was a detective, and there was no way the magician didn't know that. Kaito was always up to date on the news, and even without the massive case Kudou had been involved with a couple years ago that blew up his name everywhere, there was also the fact that he occasionally chased KID at his heists. Saguru never claimed to understand the other perfectly, but this particular breed of insanity was beyond anything he'd seen from the magician so far.

Kaito wandered back to the table Saguru and Aoko had set their books up at and slumped dejectedly into one of the empty chairs after some other library-goers took over Kudou's attention by actually having a legitimate reason to talk to him, like having books they were checking out. Aoko curled over with her hands on her face to stifle her giggles, and Saguru did quirk the faintest of smirks at how dramatic the magician was being.

"Maybe it's for the best that he doesn't acknowledge you." Hakuba commented dryly.

Lifting his head up, Kaito sent him a narrow-eyed glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, given your nighttime activities. I doubt you could hide that from someone you're in a relationship with, let alone a detective."

"Would you give that a rest already," Kaito barely even looked outraged, the argument so old and worn. Instead, he appeared rather pouty, and there wasn't even much vehemence in his hushed tone.

Aoko, on the other hand, was interested by the new information. "You know him, Hakuba?"

"Of course," The blond nodded. "You've probably heard of him too, in the midst of your father's post-heist rants. The inspector's not generally very welcoming of anyone else trying to catch KID and Kudou-kun may have accidentally made the heists sound like a novelty game." He made a point of ignoring Kaito's scandalized expression at the sign of familiarity, and the subsequent slump and sulking.

She frowned in thought as she racked her brain for the name, brightening and leaning forward when it came to her. "You mean Kudou Shinichi? I remember dad being mad about him going after KID because Conan said it was fun." She made a bit of a face at that. Aoko had always remained very anti-KID, and had frowned about a child being part of the chase. On more than one occasion she had taken to shouting at KID about the child endangerment in leading the boy through the dangerous chases (which weren't really that dangerous), though she did let up a bit after several reassurances that Conan was capable and being told that KID went easier on the child (though Hakuba knew otherwise).

"Yeah. He's a good detective, if a bit... easygoing about his method of approach to cases. He's serious enough, but he can come off as goofing around or being ridiculous at times. Regardless, he's not often wrong, if ever."

"Huh," she looked musingly at the detective-slash-librarian, who was ignoring another patron looking for his attention for non-library reasons as artfully as he had Kaito's approaches. "I wonder, is he a better detective than you?"

Saguru leveled her with a flat look.

She smiled back mildly and shrugged. "I'm just saying, they call him the Heisei Holmes. You don't have a title as grand as that."

With a resigned sigh, the detective explained carefully. "Publicity doesn't imply much about one’s skill level; Mouri Kogoro is a good example of that." Though the famous "Sleeping Kogoro" had lost steam at the same time as Shinichi's return, his "brilliance" seemed fleeting at best even before. "Kudou-kun is the real deal, but I don't think one could accurately compare our abilities, nor can I fairly claim one of us over the other, as colleagues."

Her smile turned sheepish. "I guess that's true."

Saguru had to say, he was impressed that Kaito was sulking so much that he didn't even butt into the conversation. Glancing between his friend and the other detective, he tapped a finger on the cover of his book contemplatively as he got an idea. "Kaito."

The magician looked up at him, grunting vaguely in acknowledgement.

The blond smiled, asking loftily. "If I helped get Kudou-kun's attention for you, do you think all those mysterious incidents in my mansion would stop?"

Kaito's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I wouldn't know."

"Ah, well," Saguru said, returning deliberately to his studies. "It was just a thought."

He could hear Aoko's badly stifled giggles, and there was no doubt that Kaito was looking at him like he'd grown a second head, trying to puzzle him out. And as expected, Kaito spoke up before he'd gotten halfway down the page. Taking forty-seven point three seconds to try to figure what Saguru’s aim was, he finally asked, "Do you think he'd be interested?"

Despite the fact that Kudou had somewhat insisted on Saguru referring to him in a more friendly manner, the blonde didn't really know that much about the other detective outside of cases. He'd heard rumor of him having once been interested in his childhood friend, Mouri Ran, but nothing conclusive on any front. He'd never put much thought into it either, there were always more important things at hand. At the very least, he was sure that the magician could stir up enough intrigue that, coupled with his dogged persistence, could make a chance for the other to consider it. "There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Jotting down a few more notes while the magician thought it over, he wasn't surprised at all by the sly, not-conceding-to-the-former-accusations response hardly twenty seconds later.

"Well, I don't know about those mysterious incidents, but I know if I'm occupied with something else then _I_ sure won't have the time to mess with you."

Saguru marks his page and closed the book, tucking it away as he stands. "That'll do."

The magician was obviously still a bit suspicious, and notably surprised when Saguru first stood like he thought he wouldn't do it, still looking for some backlash once the punchline came out, but trailed along behind him anyways. Aoko followed as well, not bothering to be subtle about her interest in the proceedings.

Shinichi looked a little physically pained by whatever passage he was currently reading, but still maintained enough focus on it to continue ignoring the person there until they stormed off upon noticing the trio stepping up to the desk with apparent purpose. Saguru shook his head at the display before catching the brunet's attention. "Kudou-kun."

Sharp eyes snapped up to look at him. One could almost watch the mental checkmarks as he quickly scanned the blond and his companions and smiled amiably, relaxing and putting his book down next to a stack nearby — composed entirely of some variations of mystery and whodunit books. "Ah, Hakuba. It's been a while. What brings you here?"

"My friends study here since it's near our college, they invited me along to join them today." Saguru began, gesturing to the two stepping up from behind him. "Nakamori Aoko, studying criminology, and Kuroba Kaito, studying engineering."

Shinichi's gaze turned to scan each of them again, nodding in greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kudou Shinichi, although you might have known that." He adds, wryly.

The blond could practically pinpoint exactly when Shinichi snapped on his personable “meeting people” face that disarmed even some of the harshest personalities he’d come across. It did well to belie his traits that could often put people off, instead seeming almost childishly innocent of such flaws. And, much to Saguru's amusement, despite Kaito knowing about Shinichi's obsessive detective skills and interests - the much more eccentric parts of his personality - the magician still fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Looking even downright  _smitten_.

Privately, the blond might have started to hope it worked out with them, if only because he didn't want to deal with the sulking magician afterwards. It always brought down the moods of everyone around him when he wasn't happy. But, if he were being completely honest, that is just an excuse to avoid admitting he cared. Good thing he's not especially honest.

Kaito, in his usual fashion, grinned right back and slipped a rose out into Kudou's face. It was, unsurprisingly, a very deep red. "As if I'd ever forget a face like yours!"

Shinichi raised an eyebrow at the magician, pausing thoughtfully before taking the flower. “Well, I’d hope not. You’ve been trying to get my attention for a while now, as I recall. You’re more persistent than the usual fans.”

It probably wasn’t a compliment but, regardless of that and the fact that meant he’d been deliberately ignored, Kaito preened at the words. “I’m impossible to get rid of,” he agreed. Which- didn’t sound all that flattering.

At least the detective looked more amused than put off by the declaration. Dryly he remarked, “I guess I should be grateful you aren’t one of the ones who try to stalk me home at least.”

_He probably has,_  Saguru thinks sardonically.  _He’s just really good at hiding it._

“When do you get off?” Aoko chimes in, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “We were going to go to a cafe after we finished studying, you could come with.” And now wasn’t that just  _clearly_  a line to start a set up.

Shinichi mulled it over, seemingly not picking up on the probably-too-obvious underlying goal, and Saguru watched with a barely concealed smile as Kaito stared at him wide-eyed and hopeful. “Ran and Sonoko made similar plans after work...”

“We could all go together then.” The blond added, before Kaito had the chance to wilt. “It would be a nice group outing.”

Kudou smirked like he did when when a suspect unknowingly gives him the exact evidence he needed, and glanced at his watch. “Two and a half hours, then. I should get back to work, but if it’s no trouble then I suppose you can study ‘til I’m done.”

Saguru briefly wondered with concern what they had just agreed to that Shinichi would be so smug about their agreement, but was distracted by the arm thrown across his shoulders by Kaito, who very obviously had his feet in his clouds and looking deliriously happy as he guided his friends back to their seats. It’s probably a good thing Kaito doesn’t actually  _need_  to study much for his courses, because he definitely didn’t get anything done between when the plans were made and when the librarian taking over for the rest of the day arrived. He was too busy daydreaming and staring at the paper cup Shinichi had filled with water and put the rose in absently.

As Shinichi began packing up, a pair of girls entered the library. Suzuki Sonoko marched determinedly in the detective’s direction, with Mouri Ran following her- looking equally as determined, but much more controlled than her friend. Shinichi looked puzzled over what to do with the rose when the two reached him, which quickly made his expression turn a little panicked. Saguru could hardly blame him, Suzuki-san looked downright manic. When the brunet nervously glanced their way, Saguru took that as his cue for them to save him.

Kaito looked curiously pensive when Saguru turned back towards his friends to suggest they do just that. Apparently the lovestruck moron  _could_  pay attention outside of his swooning after all. Color Saguru not terribly impressed.

“What!?” Sonoko’s indignant cry thundered in the near-silence, drawing the eyes of the whole library as Shinichi flinched. Ran’s eyes darted to the other patrons and she bowed apologetically before she turned to try and quiet her friend.

“Sonoko!” She whispered critically. “This is a library, it’s rude to be too loud while people are reading.”

“What’s  _rude_  is this no-good mystery otaku thinking he can just-” Her sentence got cut off suddenly as she was startled by a puff of pink smoke that cleared to reveal a grinning Kaito. He gallantly offered her the yellow rose in his outstretched arm.

“Now, now, Miss Suzuki, we don’t want to scene a scene here now do we? The lighting’s all wrong!”

“It…. is?” She asks, clearly confused by her tirade’s abrupt derailment, which is exactly what he’d intended, no doubt. The magician launched into a lecture about the importance of lighting in dramatic outrage and the nuances of intimidation for efficient confrontations as he gently began to guide her out the door. He paused briefly on the way to glance back at Saguru impatiently.

Snorting, the blond shook his head. Mouri, he noticed, was torn between looking at Shinichi with tight-lipped concern, and glancing back to make sure her friend wasn’t being kidnapped or something. “It would probably be best if we went after those two before Kaito forcibly imparts too much of his obsessive breakdowns of theatrics on her,” he breaks in to diffuse the obvious tension.

Forcing a smirk, Shinichi eyed Ran warily. “The last thing Sonoko needs is more advice on drama.”

Aoko took over from that, introducing herself to the other girl with a friendly smile and “I’m sorry for these idiots,” walking alongside the other brunette to where Kaito held the doors while he waited for them. Glancing back to Shinichi, who was making a cursory scan of the library while he grabbed his things, Saguru noted the other detective looks not unlike an uncomfortable bug under a scope. The Beikan frowned at the flower on his desk again, before grabbing the whole cup and falling into step with the blond detective behind the girls. The tension emanating from him only lessening once they escaped the blatantly curious gazes.

By the time they were all outside Aoko wasted no time turning on Kaito to scold him about his behavior, and apologizing about his idiocy again to Sonoko. For whatever reason, the light-haired girl had been eying the magician suspiciously. Saguru couldn't help but wonder what the moron did to warrant that. “We tried keeping him on a leash. It’s nice to meet you, though.”

The light-haired girl smiled back. “It’s all right, he’s nowhere near as bad as Shinichi when he won’t shut up about Holmes and mysteries.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve had enough of that for a lifetime!”

“Hey! I’m not  _that_  bad,” said detective tried objecting, petulantly. He made a face at the twin annoyed stares turned on him by both Sonoko and Ran before amending, “... anymore.”

And that, unfortuntately, only wound the barely-settled rage  _right_  back up. “No,” Sonoko snapped in annoyance, “now you just hide secret love notes in mystery novels, and refuse to talk about things!”

“Not love notes,” Kudou asserts firmly, sounding like he was tired of repeating it. “Just because I’m keeping something private doesn’t mean I have some sort of secret lover!”

With a haughty snort, Sonoko opened her mouth to ream Shinichi on the topic further. But then, that was when Ran caught on to the defensive tightening of Shinichi’s posture and glanced at the Ekodan trio. It was a bad time, and she knew it. With a sigh she gently waves Sonoko down before she could get started and gave Shinichi a long, concerned look. ”We’re just worried. Things have been different since… That case. We’re your friends, Shinichi. Just promise us you’ll talk about it sometime? Please.”

A strange, sad look passed over the Beikan detective’s face when he nods. Saguru couldn’t help but get the feeling that it wasn’t agreeing to the promise at all though, instead just a placating the girls in hopes they would drop it. Then, straighteing with an almost-believable smile, if you hadn’t been paying attention to the last few minutes or to the fact his gaze avoided everyone’s eyes, he took the matter of changing the subject into his own hands. “Well, anyways, I thought we were going out to a cafe today, unless everyone’s changed their minds?”

Sometimes Aoko still showed some of her more childish personality traits, like earlier when she’d asked for a comparison of the detectives’ skills, but really, after all the years of dealing with various brands of social blunders and ineptitude from both the boys and even a few of her own, she was honestly something of a godsend. “I know a nice place nearby, actually. I think they’d be perfect, they have these cute heart and polka-dotted cake rolls.”

“Mmmm, I love cake rolls!”

Thankfully, the girls fell into an easy discussion of their favorite kinds of cake and cute designs on the way like the conflict never happened, save for Ran tossing a look back at Shinichi every now and then, as if checking that he was still there.

Looking pleased for whatever reason, Kaito oh-so-casually fell in beside Shinichi where he blatantly ignored Saguru’s amused looks and attempted to start a conversation of his own with the object of his affections. Judging by how they were still deeply embroiled in discussion - or debate, Saguru couldn’t tell if they knew the difference - over cheap mystery novels and the difference between magic parlor tricks and a legitimate mystery when the girls and Saguru had excused themselves to other engagements, the half-brit figures it went well enough. He only hardly managed to break in long enough to offer Kaito a sly “Good luck” before he left.

The dirty look Kaito gave him for that and Shinichi’s questioning look was  _absolutely_  worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so mostly this was originally just supposed to be me practicing perspective and character voice and then it went and became a whole thing with a plot. Not in this particular part of it, but there will be a plot, and romance. To be honest, I'm not sure if they're actually going to be entirely in a relationship by the time I finish this fic, but they should be on the way there.  
> I don't really have any sort of beta so lemme know if you see any issues.I 'm especially bad about switching tenses.  
> Next chapter will be Kaito.


	2. Kaito

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow so, in spite of how long it's been since I updated this I've continued to get fairly regular emails for a long time of people putting kudos on this and my other story, and I would first of all like to thank every lat one of you for taking an interest in this ridiculous self-indulgent story I started up ages ago and haven't finished in so long. I swear I have been meaning to update more regularly, it just hasn't been an easy ride getting up to this. This chapter is about half as long as the last one, sorry, but after a long time of agonizing over the contents of each chapter, I determined there wasn't much more I needed in this particular story installment that would work in Kaito's chapter.  
> For any of you who still have this story in subscription or anything else, I would like to thank you for your patience. Adulthood is exhausting and doesn't leave me much time for writing as I used to get, especailly for a fandom that hasn't been nagging in my head as much as other ones. Hopefully since I've been doing better it won't be another two years for me to update again, but I can make no promises. Didn't work out well last time. Let me know if there are any issues that you see or if you have suggestions or any feedback or anything, and once more thank you so much for your support! It's been quite a bright spot in my days to know people are still interested in this.

How anyone could resist Kaito’s charms was an absolute mystery - which _should_ have been getting Shinichi’s attention in itself. He loves mysteries! So it absolutely does not make sense why he’s completely ignored Kaito for the past _thirteen_ days. It’s a crime! Shinichi should really turn himself in. To Kaito, of course, so he can oversee the proper correction and rehabilitation for this dreadful crime.

But of course, none of those things were actually working to win the detective over. The magician took some small comfort in the fact that at least he wasn’t the only one who got stonewalled when he attempted to chat the detective up. It was almost as though he had some sort of psychic talent to know whenever someone wanted to talk to him for non-library reasons and he just blocked them out. He even managed to disable all of Kaito’s pranks with nary a care in the world.

Kaito wasn’t sure if that made him more uncomfortable – even _Hakuba_ took a few years to learn to disable Kaito’s tricks that easily – or if the detective was just that much more of a thrill and delight for doing so. It was definitely straddling the line in between.

It was sheer misfortune that he’d come here with Aoko when he found out Shinichi was working there. She was laughing at him the entire time: from the moment his eyes bugged out at the sight of Kudou at the librarian’s desk and followed his gaze, through every failed attempt to talk to him - maybe invite him out somewhere, up until he walked out from that particular visit, dejected, only to realize he’d forgotten to get the book he needed in the first place.

He’d managed to keep the fact that he kept going back and trying again (not counting when he went back to get the forgotten book) a secret from her for a little while, so at least he had _some_ time before his failed wooing attempts became a spectator sport. Worse yet, as soon as she did find out, she invited Hakuba, of all the people in the world, to join in on laughing at his pain.

Or… whatever the blond detective was up to now.

To say Kaito was suspicious as hell of his friend’s motives for helping him out on the Get-Kudou’s-Attention front would be something of an understatement. Maybe he should feel bad about that, since at this point they were, in fact, actually friends.There would always probably be that slight tension between them where his activities as KID were concerned, but even at their worst the two had each other’s backs for anything outside of heists. Still, Shinichi did join heists on occasion, so the magician couldn’t quite shake the slight paranoia of them teaming up on him outside of heists.

Yeah, yeah, he should have thought more about that before he went and developed a crush on the so-called Heisei Holmes and decided to pursue it, but it didn’t seem like as much of a problem when Hakuba wasn’t actively involving himself in Kaito’s little endeavor. He figured he could at _least_ win the Heisei holmes over before other meddling detectives could try to butt in.

Contrary to popular belief, Kaito _could_ focus on things other than Kudou when in his presence, so he kept a watchful eye in the blond’s direction while he engaged Kudou in a Very Important discussion. “I’m just saying, Kudou-kun, reading just mysteries all day makes you boring. You should liven up your selections!”

Shinichi looked amused at the complaint, but didn’t react to Kaito being familiar, excellent. “And what, exactly, would you suggest?”

“Action!” Kaito immediately enthused. “Adventure, romance, comics! You could try anything.”

“Hmm,” a strange look crossed the detective’s face. “I have read the autobiography of Charles Darwin.”

The magician stared at him.

Glancing in Kaito’s direction, Shinichi started to laugh at the other’s expression. “Kidding. I mean, I have read it, but it was incredibly dry and I hated it. Pretty sure I was only made to read it as a form of torture.”

Kaito sighed exaggeratedly. “You scared me there, Kudou. For a moment I thought you were as incurably dull as Hakuba!”

“I don’t think anyone could be that boring without putting effort into it.” Shinichi drawled.

“Is it really necessary for you two to talk about me like I’m not here?” The blond huffed, it sounded like the sentiment was an old argument. Kaito tried not to bristle at the familiarity of it.

“Hm, what’s that? Kuroba-kun, did you hear something?”

The magician beamed. “What? Kudou, are you hearing things? Do we need to get you checked out?”

“Hmm,” Shinichi hummed mildly. “Since I’m not a book, and my shift’s over anyways, it’s probably not necessary.”

Kaito stared. “Did you just- ? That was terrible, Kudou. Really?”

“Oh, shut up.” Shinichi grumbled, with a petulant huff. Clearly, _he_ thought he was funny.

With a glance back at the ignored blond, Kaito snickered at his pained expression. Hakuba was definitely regretting this. Kaito, on the other hand? Kaito was definitely not. It was odd, how familiar the banter felt with Shinichi. He couldn’t quite place why each response came so easily, but he certainly wasn’t complaining.

It wasn’t hard to drag the detective into a discussion of whatever struck Kaito’s fancy, from books to magic and anything in between. He carefully skirted the topic of KID while they had an audience, especially Suzuki Sonoko, of all people. It was fine, Shinichi was willing enough to go on as much as Kaito himself would, though it didn’t escape Kaito’s notice that he wasn’t the only one diverting the discussion from certain topics. It was surprisingly unsubtle on the detective’s part, and almost cute how his voice raised an octave or two whenever he was uncomfortable with a subject. Cute, but also a bit cringeworthy. His pitch changes were too sharp to not wince at each time, given that at times he seemed to be reaching for a note that was above his register.

He barely paid attention to everyone else’s departures, excusing themselves off with plans and chores. Aoko gave him a sharp look with a raised eyebrow and a smirk before she left, which he ignored. Hakuba stayed the longest, looking for all the world like he was trying to keep up with the pace of discussion, even if he wasn’t contributing to it. When he was satisfied, the blond excused himself as well, but not before a noticeably teasing jibe to Kaito.

“Good luck.” Oh, Kaito was so going to get him for that. He glared at the detective as he left the cafe, feeling heat burn up his cheeks where he knew Shinichi was staring at him.

“So,” Shinichi began.

“No.”

“No? That’s suspicious.”

Damn it. “I have a show coming up.”

“Really.” Curious, but not convinced. “When is it?”

Interrogation, huh? So that’s how it was going to be. At least his ‘lie’ actually had some truth to it. “It’s in four days, late afternoon, a place called Tucker’s Book Trade.” Kaito intones dramatically as he switched to English to recite their over-the-top motto. “ **Home to every book you don’t want under the sun.** ”

“.... You’re serious,” Shinichi balked.

“I sort of wish I wasn’t. Gotta work my way up to nicer places, though. And I owe the owner a favor for helping me out with a few of my shows.”

Shinichi snorted, shaking his head. “I’d say that I’ll swing by to check it out, but I have a feeling I don’t want to be seen entering that place.”

“But Shin-i-chiii,” Kaito whined. He hadn’t even invited the other to go, and hadn’t thought of doing so yet until he mentioned it, but he was already disappointed to be shot down on something he hadn’t even started. “Come on, do it for me?”

A sharp glint entered Shinichi’s eyes, and Kaito stifled a shiver, feeling he’d walked into a trap. The detective tapped on the table. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll see if I have time to swing by, and if I can, you tell me the real reason Hakuba said good luck.” The detective grinned. It was a deal that required having faith that Kaito wouldn’t spend the whole time coming up with a better lie, or maybe that’s what he expected? There was some sort of game here, and Kaito didn’t like not knowing what it was. But, if he could get Shinichi to go to his show…

“Alright, deal.” A small thrill made itself known to the magician. He didn’t know what was coming, but he could tell there was a challenge involved. And Shinichi’s challenges were always so interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HMU @ liedownquisition on Tumblr if you've got any questions or just want to chat. I love to hear from you guys!


	3. Shinichi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After three rewrites and way too many hours of staring at my own writing with mild disgruntlement because I can't puzzle out how to fix it, I'm just going to throw this out there and call it done.

Shinichi didn’t exactly need money, considering his overly wealthy parents. Not that he didn’t want to support himself, but, it wasn’t why he’d taken the job at the library. The books brought back a lot of memories for him — fond ones he couldn’t exactly go around sharing with others. Plus, the job worked as a decent mental exercise for his deductive abilities to figure out what patrons were looking for, what they studied, and deciding which texts would suit their purpose best.

And, so long as it didn’t cut into his work helping the guests and handling the rest of his work, he was allowed to read any of the books during his free time. Growing up with an author for a father meant that while he adored books, there were some slight… snobbish tendencies towards only reading ‘good’ books. Things changed when he was Conan however. If you’d gone back to before the whole mess and told him he’d have an impromptu book exchange club with a world-renowned phantom thief, he’d have laughed himself into a coma. It was almost a shame that it’d had to come to an end, but Shinichi needed his life back, even if it’d never be the same.

So, he’d broadened his horizons, so to speak, though he still mostly read mystery fiction, it had spread to include those with more fantastical elements, even romances at times, as well as many that weren’t considered mysteries, but he’d heard that the foreshadowing was subtle and well done, which was almost the same thing trying to piece the plot together before he got there. He could easily imagine words scrawled in the margins like the books he kept very privately: snarky commentary, numbers that meant nothing until you finished the book, codes meant to waste his time, and riddle-puzzles using characters things from the story that had nothing to do with the plot.

It didn’t quite help that KID still knew Shinichi, he’d made sure of that much. He was too easily drawn into the thief’s messes and took far too much joy in mucking up his plans. Shinichi figured that was why he’d find some of his traps amongst his belongings. It was no secret the thief kept tabs on his pursuers, so him finding out about this job was a no-brainer. Still, it made him miss the semi-camaraderie that used to be there.

“Uhm, Kudou-san?” Shinichi looked up from the cheesy whodunit he had next to his keyboard. Short brown hair, literature major, stops by twice a week, if he remembered correctly her name was Kimura Mitsuko. He fitted his polite work smile on as he greeted her.

“Ah, Kimura-san, is there a book I can help you with?” He pointedly ignored the excited grin when he used her name.

“Well, not exactly...” Ah, and there it was, the biggest drawback of this position. Bringing down the B.O. hadn’t exactly lessened his fame. He’s sure his younger self would be ecstatic to be known as he was, but in the wake of everything that’s happened, most days he just wanted a break. He tuned out most of the girl’s words once he knew it wasn’t important. Something about a play, maybe? He’d learned his lesson about those.

When he noticed a pause in the girl’s speech he tilted his head apologetically. “Sorry, Kimura-san, I’m afraid I’m quite busy at the moment. I won’t be available.”

She faltered, frowning, but tried to continue, something about how he has to come or it won’t be the same or such and such obligation. He turned back to his book and flipped the page, finding a rather cringe-worthy, easy level puzzle with barely half-accurate sciences that would make Haibara weep. Or close enough, at least. It was distracting enough he barely noticed her leave. He tried not to slump in relief when she was gone, and admittedly failed once he knew why.

Hakuba Saguru was someone he’d recently begun to call a friend, someone on his level he somewhat desperately baited into conversation the last several times he’d ran into him. And with his own friends. Shinichi recalled one of them as a rather persistent… fan? He did tend to dismiss most people if they weren’t talking to him about something relating to work out of self defense, but he was open to reevaluate that.

“It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kudou Shinichi, although you might have known that.” He remarked, making a glance at the one Saguru had introduced as Kuroba Kaito. The family name rang a distant bell in his mind, but he’d wait and dwell on it later.

The rose was a surprise, and it took him a moment to realise he was supposed to take the flower. Mentally, he added ‘amateur magician’ to his knowledge of the other. "As if I'd ever forget a face like yours!"

“Well, I’d hope not. You’ve been trying to get my attention for a while now, as I recall. You’re more persistent than the usual fans.”

The grin that was met with was concerning, to say the least. “I’m impossible to get rid of.”

Shinichi snorted internally. He’d heard that before. “I guess I should be grateful you aren’t one of the ones who try to stalk me home at least.” Those were uncomfortable, and he’d almost maimed one that had spooked him enough to kick something at them.

“When do you get off? We were going to go to a cafe after we finished studying, you could come with.”

When Shinichi looked at Aoko, part of him did think about how parts of her reminded him of Ran, which reminded him that his childhood friend, and her best friend had made plans to interrogate him later that day. In fact, they’d intended to do so at basically the same time. A personal escort after work straight to the chopping block of fury and wrath that was the duo of Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko on a mission. He wouldn’t be able to avoid the two entirely, but if he went with this group as well, it just might save his hide.

“Ran and Sonoko made similar plans after work...” He began, not sure how to ask without sounding suspicious to his own ears.

“We could all go together then.” Ah, Hakuba offered him exactly the option he needed. Shinichi could hardly keep the satisfaction off his face. “It would be a nice group outing.”

After the shouting he’s sure to be subjected to for such an obvious dodge, Kudou was sure it would be. Distractions for the girls, less interrogations for him, it all wrapped up nicely. He glanced at his watch, not sure if he wanted it to be sooner or later for the time to arrive. “Two and a half hours, then. I should get back to work, but if it’s no trouble then I suppose you can study ‘til I’m done.”

He watched them shuffle back happily back to their seats with a bit of a smile himself. Even if self-preservation was a large part of the outing on his part, he thought he might genuinely enjoy it. He glanced at the rose in his hand, carefully de-thorned and cut at an angle in a way he recalled made it easier for the rose to get nutrients and water while it had no roots. He grabbed a cup from the water cooler and filled it to keep the bloom in for the time being. It would probably be rude to let it wilt.

The rest of his shift was distracted as he tried to figure out how to explain the situation to Sonoko and Ran as painlessly for him as possible. Then as the minutes ticked down to the end he wondered how to take the rose with him - should he take it? Leave it in the cup on the desk? No, wait, paper cups will leak after a while that’d be a bad idea. He couldn’t just leave it outside of it-

“Shiii-n-ichiii.” If the menacing croon wasn’t bad enough, the look of downright murder on the light brunette’s face when the detective looked up at her would freeze anyone’s blood cold in fear. Impulsively, his eyes snapped to Hakuba’s table before back to the raging girl in front of him.

“Er, Sonoko.” All Shinichi’s plans flew out the window for handling this gracefully. “I invited some friends to come with us.today. You wanted to go out, didn’t you?” He backed away slightly, hoping to stay out of range of the metaphorical shark’s jaws.

Her reaction went about as well as he expected. A pang of guilt went through Shinichi when Ran turned to apologize to the patrons, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. The only ones who could handle an angry Suzuki were all, well, not him. A popf of pink smoke brought forth his apparent savior.

Kaito was a more effective distraction than Shinichi ever could have expected. And Aoko and Saguru reasonable enough to take the rest of the meeting smoothly. It seemed too good to be true, honestly. He was ready for the catch to happen when he grabbed his stuff and followed. Attempting to let them resolve their conversations themselves, he twitched at Sonoko’s jab.

He shouldn’t have risen to it. “I’m not that bad! … Anymore.”

“No,” Sonoko snapped back, “now you just hide secret love notes in mystery novels, and refuse to talk about things!”

“Not love notes,” Last thing he needed was that circulating. It only encouraged snooping more, and damn it, he wanted some damned privacy. He was getting tired of everything having to be open knowledge to the brunette. Ran would worry, but let him have his business if he didn’t want to talk. “Just because I’m keeping something private doesn’t mean I have some sort of secret lover!”

Which, speaking of Ran, her placating cut-in reminded him painfully of how much he’d pushed her out. ”We’re just worried. Things have been different since… That case. We’re your friends, Shinichi. Just promise us you’ll talk about it sometime? Please.”

He couldn’t, definitely wouldn’t, and he knew it. He’s pretty sure she knew it too, but she was always trying her best for him. Damn if that didn’t make him feel guilty about it. He dipped his head in a vague nod and tried to ignore the sad look of resignation on her face. Sonoko was still fuming, but settled a bit at his apparent agreement. Shinichi kept his eyes forward, slightly beyond the group. He’d hoped that bringing others into the situation would keep something like this from happening, but it likely just made it worse, airing out his business to near complete strangers.

A fake smile made it onto his face: A Conan-smile, a ‘Ran-neechan don’t be sad’ smile. “Well, anyways, I thought we were going out to a cafe today, unless everyone’s changed their minds?”

He shuttered himself out of the conversation when someone else stepped in to take over, more than willing to take the light off of himself at this point. Following absently behind the girls, he felt more than saw Kuroba fall in beside him. He braced himself for deflecting more awkward conversation.

“Hey, Kudou-kun, do you ever read anything that isn’t mystery?” That- oh. That wasn’t what he expected at all.

Shinichi pulled himself together enough to look at the other with a raised eyebrow that was met with a smile.

“There wasn’t a lot of variety in that stack you had back at the library.”

The detective rolled his eyes. “My selections at work don’t equate to my selections at home. Those were just mindless covers I could flip through while doing work and not miss anything important.”

“Why bother with having books there at all?” Somehow, it felt like this was aimless. Just chatter to fill the space. Not exploratory like the snippets he could hear from the girls in front of them to get to know one another. Just talk for the sake of talk, or distraction, or maybe as a lead up to an actual conversation, or all of the above.

“I’m sure it’s a surprise but after everything I’m used to, being a librarian is terribly dull.” It was a relief, but dull.  
Kuroba laughed, a shake of his head like it was obvious. “I’m sure. But then, why work a job if you think it’s boring?”

“I like books.” Shinichi smirked. It was only half a lie.

Conversation picked up quickly after that, Kaito dragging Shinichi into discussion after discussion, insisting on increasing familiarity that the detective found he didn’t mind so much. It fell into a comfortable pace of matching wits and the occasional bad joke that even Shinichi would admit to being mildly ashamed about, but did because he found it helped sometimes to bring down people’s expectations.

When everyone else had eventually left, Shinichi leaned back in his seat, sizing up the magician in front of him once again. He wasn’t sure what to make of the other, even with as much as they’d spoken about so far. “So-”

“No.” A quick denial, he was hiding something. A light smile creeped onto his face.

“No? That’s suspicious.”

Whatever it was that he’d been wished luck for, Kuroba didn’t want him to know. He used something that was still true to deflect from the truth that actually mattered. Shinichi could relate to the secrecy, and while he’d actually be willing to drop it, he also found himself entertained by baiting the other. Mentally, he reviewed his schedule to see if he’d have time. He wasn’t working the library that day, but he did have some case files he’d agreed to help go over earlier in the day. If something didn’t come up, he might be able to make it.

“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll see if I have time to swing by, and if I can, you tell me the real reason Hakuba said good luck.” He’d likely accept whatever it was, even if he knew it wasn’t true. Prying too much gave others an excuse to pry back, and he got enough of that as it was.

There was a gleam of excitement in the magician’s eyes when he agreed to the terms, and Shinichi had to bite back his own curiosity for the time being. He’d been acting more impulsively lately, so, if he were being honest, he wasn’t sure where this was going himself. All he knew was he definitely wanted to see this one through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out tbh to Shana_Fujioka's comment that put things in reader perspective for me so I could see just how much of a knowledge gap I was working with between your minds and mine. With how long it's been since I started it I almost forgot that you guys didn't even know the second main thing Driving the story.  
> This is not the end of this 'verse. Going to switch to shorter chapter styles to get more out. Recently I moved and soon I should have proper internet in my apartment I don't have too mooch of the building next door so I can only really reach it from the window of the one bedroom so I have to sit on my roommate's bed for it.  
> Up next is mostly a prequel, but will probably have a few chapters that go after this as well.


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